Hampshire, in Amherst, Mass., is among the most innovative colleges in the country, challenging students to design their own programs of study and recruit a faculty committee to advise them on a rigorous path of discovery. The program fosters intellectual exploration, collaboration, and a willingness to experiment, supported by narrative evaluations from faculty rather than grades. The model has been described as “graduate school for undergraduates,” with critical thinking a hallmark of a Hampshire education. Since it opened in 1970, the success of the College can be measured by the mainstreaming of many of its experimental ideas in education and the achievements of its alums: Academy Award winners, Emmy Award winners, best-selling authors, scientists, historians, Peabody winners, MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” awardees, Fulbright scholars, and more. The College is ranked 40th among all US colleges and universities for percentage of alumni who advance to earn doctorate degrees according to the National Science Foundation. More than a quarter of Hampshire graduates have started their own venture or organization, which landed the college on Forbes’s 2015 short list of most-entrepreneurial colleges. Hampshire is part of the Five Colleges consortium, through which our students share classes, activities, and resources with the students of Amherst College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, and UMass Amherst.
